One of the most annoying parts of the "world of woo" is people who claim to have psychic powers. Although none has ever actually shown evidence of this ability under strict observation, it's a multi-million dollar business, with some in the field becoming quite prominent. Chip Coffey may not be one of the biggest players, but he's had his 15 minutes of fame with A&E's "Psychic Kids" program and a few other television appearances. Operation Bumblebee (San Jose) A group of us wanted to see whether we could trick him into communicating with dead people who don't actually exist. So after a lot of work and planning, we did just that.

Please CLICK HERE to be taken to my latest article on Randi's "Swift" blog. In it, I detail the success of this project, dubbed "Operation Bumblebee."

The brainchild of the Monterey Country Skeptics' own Susan Gerbic (founder of the Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia project), Operation Bumblebee set out to plant undercover skeptics inside the psychic reading events of Chip Coffee, host of A&E's "Psychic Children," and self-described psychic medium.

The plan was a huge success! You can read Susan's description of the project HERE. More links to follow.

I just have to say... who is this helping? People have the right to believe in psychic ability. People donate money to the church all the time, are you going to also raid churches? People find comfort in thinking that they can reach their loved ones. Many people have had experiences of their own and are comforted by them. You all just sound like a bunch of bitter people who have nothing better to do on a Saturday night. If someone has $150 to spend, let them spend it on a psychic. I, personally, do not believe in psychic ability, but it doesn't harm me or anyone else for someone to believe in it themselves.

To do a switcheroo on your quote: One of the most annoying parts of the WORLD are people like you, who can't let humans be humans and believe what they want to believe.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I could spend hours answering your question "who [sic] is this helping." And I could spend DAYS telling you whom these psychics are HURTING. People find comfort in all sorts of things that are bad for them. Drugs, avoidance behaviors, abusive relationships, etc., are all examples of things that bring people some level of comfort for a while, but eventually cause more harm than good.

If you'd like to see the harm that psychic, religious, and other charlatans do to people, someone has created an entire website to educate you about it. Tim Farley's "What's the Harm" website can be found at http://www.whatstheharm.net . Go check it out.

Upcoming Events

28 Feb: Skeptics in the Pub, Millbrae

1 Mar: Café Inquiry, Menlo Park

2 Mar: Skeptics in the Pub, Sunnyvale

8 Mar: SkepTalk, San Francisco

9 Mar: Skeptic Movie Night, San José

Skeptics in the Pub: Millbrae

If ye value critical thinking, and if ye scorn the flim-flam man, join us, your friends. We are a group who informally discuss the latest in science or pseudoscience over good eats & ale. Sponsored by Bay Area Skeptics.

SkepTalk: San Francisco

Miriam Diamond, PhD

WHAT: A Quirky Colloquium Quashing Quantum Quackery

It’s fashionable for the names of products and services to include the word "quantum", but does that have any validity in the realm of quantum physics? Is it just a nonsense buzzword? From "quantum computing" to "quantum biology" to "quantum jumping", this colloquium will put you in a super-position to tell the difference.

WHO: Dr. Miriam Diamond is a high-energy particle physicist, currently employed as an Experimental Research Associate at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Born in Canada, she earned her PhD from the University of Toronto. She worked at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, the Institute for Quantum Computing, and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. She was also a member of the ATLAS Collaboration at the CERN Large Hadron Collider in Geneva. Assisted by her guinea pig Quark, she enjoys participating in science outreach to students and the general public.